Like A Sister
by Embolalia
Summary: The early history of Sharon and Kara's friendship. Chapter 2: Sharon gets a new name. Also some action.
1. Chapter 1

**I**

The first time Kara Thrace hears the name Sharon Valerii, she's speed-walking down a corridor on Galactica.

"She's just adorable," Helo continues, grinning foolishly.

Kara breaks into an all-out run.

"Starbuck?" He starts to jog next to her. "She just got in from Troy. Did you hear what-"

She makes a sharp turn through the hatch of the head and slams to her knees in front of a toilet just as the projectile-vomiting begins.

"Gods," Helo says, standing over her and cringing. "Kara, what-"

Kara spits and sits back, panting. "Got something to eat planetside while you were picking up the newbies. Frakking-" she interrupts herself to wretch again for another minute. When she looks up again, Helo is holding out a cup of water. "Thanks," she says after she rinses out her mouth. "Frakking seafood."

Helo is clearly trying not to laugh.

Starbuck raises an eyebrow in a silent dare.

"You've used food poisoning as an excuse so many times since I've known you, Buck. The Gods owed you one."

She grins, shrugging off the words. "Yeah, well, they can do their worst." On cue she twists and empties her stomach again.

Helo crouches down, stroking her hair in sympathy as she leans over the toilet. It's not a new position for them. Then he turns, his eye caught by someone else entering the head. "Sharon!" he calls, lifting his hand off Kara's head to wave her over.

The young lieutenant heads toward him, putting on the best smile she can manage. She stops short, eyes widening, as she simultaneously sees and smells what's going on in the stall. "Are you alright?" she asks nervously.

Kara spits and drinks down the rest of the water, wipes her eyes with her sleeve. "Yeah," she gasps, panting. "Pretty much." Blinking, she looks up at the girl standing over her. "Hang on," she adds, flushing the toilet and reaching for Helo's hand to pull herself up. "Let me just brush my teeth first."

Sharon winces and steps back, looking nervously at Helo, who grins reassuringly.

"This magnificent specimen of a Viper pilot," he chuckles at Kara's glare, "is Kara Thrace, call-sign Starbuck. Don't try to out-drink her or beat her at triad and you'll do fine."

Kara finishes cleaning herself up and opens her mouth to retort when a page shuts them up.

Lieutenant Thace to Admiral's quarters, please pass the word.

The message repeats in Dualla's clipped, clear soprano, and Kara shrugs to the other pilots. "I'm off," she says, looking longingly back at the toilet as her stomach rumbles in distress. "Don't listen to anything Helo tells you."

oxxxo

"Sir?" Kara asks queasily as she ducks past the marines and through the hatch.

"Kara!" He smiles warmly and sets down his tumbler of bourbon, holds up the bottle to offer her one, too.

She flinches at the thought and shakes her head no. "I seem to have eaten something bad planetside," she mumbles.

Adama raises an eyebrow at her. "Don't you usually?"

Kara laughs. "Yes, sir."

He smiles at her, then sits back against his desk and lifts a folder off it. Kara frowns slightly, wondering if there's some new disciplinary action against her she hasn't heard about. She's pretty sure she made it off Aquaria without hitting anyone.

"We got a few new personnel, today," Adama cuts into her thoughts.

Kara nods. "Yeah, I met one of them. Briefly."

"Lieutenant Valerii?"

She nods again.

Adama looks down at the file he's holding between his two hands. "This is a favor I want to ask you Kara, not an order."

"Anything," she says at once, frowning at his sudden seriousness.

"I'm asking you this because I know you've had a hard year, grieving for Zak."

Her face shuts down, betraying none of her surprise or pain at the unexpected reminder.

"You may or may not have heard, but the domes on Troy ruptured two days ago. Everyone who lived there died."

Kara swallows hard at the news. "That's awful," she murmurs.

"Sharon Valerii had just left her entire family there."

She closes her eyes tightly, trying not to imagine.

Adama nods at the horror of it. "I was hoping you could help her get settled here. She could use a friend while she's still new. Someone who understands what it's like to lose family and friends." He waits for Kara to meet his eyes. "Can you do that for me?"

"Of course." She smiles tightly. She owes him so much more than this.

"Good." Adama frowns at Kara slightly as she squirms with queasiness. "Dismissed." 

oxxxo 

It's a few hours later before Kara sees the lieutenant again, this time in the bunkroom. After a year on board Kara's the most senior officer in the junior officers' barracks, but she doesn't mind. Stinger makes the senior officers go to sleep on time.

"Sharon?" she asks gently.

The younger woman turns from her unpacking and smiles shakily. "Hi! Starbuck, right?"

Kara nods. "We didn't really get to meet before." She waits, but she can't think of anything else to say. Usually she just uses sarcasm and scorn on new crew until she gets used to them.

"Are you feeling better?" the younger woman offers.

"Yeah." Silence drags out a moment longer. "Want a tour?" Kara finally asks.

Sharon nods hesitantly. "Sure."

Kara leads the way toward the hangar deck, waving in the general direction of the galley and the rec room as they pass. Finally they step out onto the catwalk overlooking their birds. She grins. "This is where it all happens." Sharon barely manages a smile, though her gaze does drag a moment as she notices Tyrol crossing the deck.

"Listen," Kara says quietly. "The Admiral told me about what happened to your family. On Troy."

"Oh-" Sharon's eyes go wide, and her voice cuts off.

"I know it's not the same," Kara says, looking out over the ships so she doesn't have to see Sharon's reaction, "but I lost my mother a couple years ago, and my-my fiance last year. So I know what I'm talking about when I say I'm sorry." The other woman doesn't speak, and Kara finally turns, sees her standing stock-still, tears streaking her flushed cheeks. She opens her mouth, then closes it. Finally she steps close, hugs Sharon gently, then harder. "I know," she whispers softly, and lets Sharon cling to her as long as she needs.

A while passes before Sharon pulls away, sheepishly drying her cheeks with the backs of her hands. "Thanks," she says quietly.

Kara nods, stepping back. "So did you learn to play triad at the Academy?" she asks, starting to lead Sharon back through the ship.

"A little," the girl says, her voice throat still frogged with tears. "I'm not very good."

"That's what I like to hear," Kara answers cheerfully. "Come on. By the time I'm done with you, Helo won't have a sucker to his name!" She gets only a half-hearted sigh from Sharon, but she doesn't push. She remembers what it's like. They move through the corridors in silence again, but this time without awkwardness.

As they make their way into the rec room, Helo pulls the lollipop out of his mouth to call them over, and Kara hears Sharon laugh genuinely. She grins. It's a start.


	2. Chapter 2

**II**

The hatch to the bunkroom slams shut, and Kara turns quickly in surprise.

"Sorry," Sharon mutters at her alarm. She hurls her helmet into her bunk. "Frak!"

Kara tries to summon up a look of concern as a smile begins to play madly across her face. She must be rubbing off on the younger pilot. "What's going on, rook?"

She flops down onto her bunk, the burst of temper flaring out. "Dented the undercarriage again."

Sitting down near Sharon's knees, Kara sighs. She can't remember ever having to work at flying as hard as Sharon does. "You did it perfectly in the sims yesterday. Twice."

A smile tugs at Sharon's face and Kara's eyes narrow. "What?' she demands.

Sharon covers her eyes with her hand. "It's cause he's distracting me," she says quickly, then winces as if waiting for the teasing to start. When she finally pulls her hand back, she finds Kara grinning widely.

"Well what are you going to do about it?"

"Do?" Sharon asks nervously.

Kara scootches into the bunk, leaning back against the bulkhead at its foot. "Why sit around waiting when you could be with somebody?"

Sharon rolls her eyes. "Like you and Flat Top? And X-ray? And Helo? And-" she stops, giggling, when Kara throws a towel at her.

Kara frowns at her for a second. "Helo and I are just friends. And the others, I mean."

The younger girl hesitates. "I don't-I don't want to lose somebody else." She sees how quickly her friend's face turns to stone. "I know that's why you just-"

"What? Frak around?" Kara demands. Then Sharon's face falls and she shrugs. "Whatever. Who cares if I do? But if I had somebody here I actually wanted to, you know..."

"Frak more than once?" Sharon suggests slyly.

Kara snorts with laughter. "Yeah. If I did I wouldn't let some antiquated rules stop me. It's not like we're flying combat missions." She grins teasingly. "Or like they'd even let you in a bird in combat anyway."

Sharon's waves a pillow threateningly. "Frak you."

Kara laughs.

She flips it over in her hands. "They threw pillows at me. At the raptor. So I wouldn't dent the deck." She glares in the face of her friend's merriment.

"Oh, rook, they just love you so much," Kara gasps.

She shrugs. "It's just...distracting ," she says again, blushing faintly. "He's watching the raptor land and-"

"Watching the raptor?" Kara interrupts, frowning, perplexed.

"Doesn't Galen watch you land?"

Kara's mouth drops open, her eyes blinking wildly between surprise, concern and hilarity. Then she cackles.

"Starbuck?" Sharon demands. "What? Who did you think I meant?"

"No, no!" Kara waves her hands at the younger pilot. "No, that's okay. Chief is distracting you. I get it, he's...Chief."

For a second Sharon's face falls. "Have you already-"

"What? No!" It's all Kara can do to stay upright through her laughter. She'll have to console Helo later.

Sharon watches her warily as she catches her breath. "He's just...confident. And sexy. And...I don't know, there's a connection between us."

"Yeah," Kara says, breathlessness making her sound suddenly tired. "I remember that."

Sharon glances involuntarily toward Kara's locker, toward the photograph that's visible in the open door. "From Zak?" she asks softly.

For a second Kara's eyes follow hers and she doesn't answer. "Mmm," she finally hums. Then she turns quickly back. "So rook, what are you going to do about these feelings?" She waggles her eyebrows suggestively. "Six months on board without any nookie-haven't forgotten how, have you?"

Sharon looks away, thinks of the catalog of things she'd like to do to Tyrol. "You don't think I'd get in trouble?"

"Some things are worth trouble."

Sharon glances back at Kara in time to see that her eyes are trained on the photograph again.

Kara swings back to her, puts on a grin. "Go for it, rook."

**oxxxo**

Strolling into the hangar deck for a CAP shift the next afternoon, Kara walks up to Helo, who's standing perfectly still in the middle of the floor. She follows his gaze to the storage locker hatch.

"Something you need?" she asks lightly.

He keeps glaring at the door.

There are a series of rhythmic thuds coming from the other side. They pause for a moment, then resume.

"What in the gods' names-" Kara starts, and then a single yelp is heard and she's giggling, torn between amusement and sympathy as she takes in Helo's face,

"Sorry, man," she offers. Something clangs loudly, drawing both their attention for a second. Kara's grinning with unrestrained glee.

"You knew about this?" Helo asks as he turns, heads back toward his raptor.

Kara shrugs. "Just since yesterday. Girl works fast! Sorry," she tacks on again as he winces.

Helo doesn't answer, just begins the checklist Sharon left for him.

She lingers a little longer, seeing the disappointment in the cant of Helo's shoulders. "I'll be around later if you're lonely," Kara offers cheerfully.

He shakes his head at her, but he's smiling faintly. "Have a good flight, Starbuck."

And with one more glance at the source of the booming echoing around the deck, she heads for her bird.

When Kara calls Sharon 'Boomer' that night over triad, the younger girl's mouth drops open and she flushes.

"Helo and I finally picked you a call-sign," Kara says demurely, shooting him a conspiratorial glance. "Cause of all the dents."

Helo laughs around his sucker, gives Boomer a supportive glance.

The young pilot sighs, then nods with feigned acceptance. "Well, I'll take it. There are worse ways to get a call-sign."

This time Helo chokes and Kara's mouth drops open in anger. "Don't tell me you told her!" she snaps, standing up ready to fight.

"Now Starbuck-" he starts, scooting around his bench and edging back from the table.

"Motherfrakker!" Kara chases him gleefully out of the rec room.

Chief wanders over from another table, sets his hand on Boomer's shoulder. "Boomer's not so bad."

"Nope." She shakes her head, then tilts it back to grin up at him wickedly. "We may need to find somewhere more private, though."


End file.
